If you love retro games , 2025 is about to be a feast .
From remakes to remasters to series revivals to games inspire by the classics , plenty of games with aheavy retro influenceare already slated for 2025 . While titles likeGhost of YoteiandGrand Theft Auto VIwill get most of the mainstream gaming zeitgeist this year , remasters likeCapcom Fighting Collection 2 , reimaginings likeDouble Dragon ReviveandFatal Fury : metropolis of the Wolves , and indie likeDemonschoolcould be well worth your time .
These different air hole of retro - urge gambling often survive in disparate share of the game industriousness , so it can be a lot to keep track of . To help , I ’ve combed through the video game release calendar and pulled out 50 retro remakes , remasters , reimaginings , and revivification currently in the works . Many of those are specify to plunge in 2025 . If you consider yourself a retro gaming fan , you should have no shortage of games to take from this year .
Rambunctious remasters
The best position to start is with all of the remakes and remasters of retro classics , as these will give participant new opportunity to revisit their favorites or check out classic for the first time . Ys Memorie : The Oath in Felghanakicks things off on January 7 , but many more will follow . Digital Eclipse is one company that has spearheaded the late moving ridge of retro game collections through titles likeTetris Forever . Right now , it ’s only announced forthcoming game isYu - Gi - Oh ! Early Days Collection , which bundle several Game Boy , Game Boy Color , and Game Boy Advance Games together into a individual collection . It arrives February 27 .
Meanwhile , the first - person shooter remaster gurus at Nightdive Studios are working on their long - awaited remastersSystem Shock 2 : Enhanced EditionandSiN Reloaded ; hopefully , we will hear more about both projects this yr . Limited Run Games is also keep its button to become a retro game rerelease publisher with a smattering of titles slate to come out throughout the twelvemonth . As seen in the LRG3 2024 show window , it ’s institute some Square Enix - own franchise likeFighting Force , Fear Effect , and Gexback with rereleases of their own .
Limited Run Games is bring a small - knownTurricansuccessor to the West this year withRendering Ranger R2 Rewind , serve Konami re - launch the obscure GBA platformerNinja Five-0 , and creatingBubsy in the Purrfect Collection , which will make the notorious platformer character retro games available on modern console table for the first sentence . Aspyr will launchStar Wars Episode I : Jedi Power Battleson January 23 andTomb Raider IV - VI Remasteredon February 14 .
Classics likePower StoneandCapcom vs. SNKwill make a rejoinder as part ofCapcom Fighting Collection 2later this class , while Sunsoft ’s unnoticeable beat ’em upShounen Ninja Sasukeis getting rereleased on Steam asJustice Ninja Casey . Plus , Croc : Legend of the Gobbosis get an intensive remaster as part of Argonauts ’ comeback , and Konami is in conclusion remastering thefirst two Suikoden RPGs .
Real remakes
While all of the remasters I ’ve mentioned are essentially preserve the original experience and just offering it up on forward-looking gaming platforms , there are retro remake on the way that are rebuilding these classic from the ground up . Amerzone — The Explorer ’s Legacyis a cult Graeco-Roman personal computer dangerous undertaking game from the creators ofSyberia , and Microids will release a mod remake of it in the 2nd quarter of 2025 .
In the wake ofDragon Quest III : HD-2D Remake , Square Enix will give the same treatment to the first two game in that iconic RPG series withDragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake . Meanwhile , the Trails series is beloved by many , but heavily to broach due to the complex , interconnect narratives of this monumental RPG series . To help , Trails in the Sky 1st Chapterwill help give thespian a clear start head by remaking the beginning of the saga later in 2025 .
The gamy - profile remake in the card heading into this yr isMetal Gear Solid Delta : Snake Eater . Digital Trends considersMetal Gear Solid 3to be one of thebest games of all time , so it ’ll be problematic for Konami to reconstruct this classic in Unreal Engine 5 without the help of Hideo Kojima and still create something that feels revolutionize . Konami and Bloober Team negociate to pull that off withSilent Hill 2’s2024 remaking , so hopefully , Metal Gear Solid Delta : Snake Eateris just as respectful to the classic it ’s base on .
Radical revivals
While I savour a good remaster or remaking , I get more unrestrained by retro reimaginings that take a authoritative secret plan or serial and reinterpret it with modern game design doctrine . IfThe Game Awards 2024 was any reading , many of those are on the way in 2025 . There’sNinja Gaiden : Ragebound , a new 2D platformer in that darling Koei Temco serial publication from the developer ofBlasphemous . Fatal Fury : City of the Wolvesrevives one of the earliest fighting biz competitors to Street Fighter with all the learnings SNK has taken from its recent The King of Fighters games ; it ’s out on April 24 .
Fans of strategy games can count forrard toPhantom Brave : The Lost HeroandCommandos : Origins , while shoot ’em up thespian can anticipateSonic Wings Reunion , a new secret plan in the Aero Fighters series . Anew Backyard Sports gameis in the works alongside the rerelease of more of whopping ’ classic sports titles , while serial that commence in the early 2000s , such asMafia , Fable , andMetroid Prime , will all get new games in 2025.Netflix is building on the success of its Carmen Sandiego telly show by bestow the classic edutainment series backwith a new game , and Paradox might finally make 2025 the class where the farsighted - awaitedVampire The Masquerade : Bloodlines 2releases .
Shadow Labyrinthbuilds on Pac - Man’soddSecret Levelepisodeand translate the colonnade classic into aHollow Knight - inspired action platformer . Atari will also go along its effort to re-explain its 2600 classic with the futuristic racerFatal Run 2089 .
Finally , Double Dragon Reviveis the latest reinterpretation of the classic beat ’em up serial , and we already know that it ’s launching on October 23 . Arc System Works tells Digital Trends that its goal withDouble Dragon Revivewas to “ make a natural evolution of the series , ” and it will do so by adding “ more depth to the secret plan mechanics to increase the thrill and stress in every scrap . ” While the classic should be keep , I love to see these serial evolve and change over prison term thanks to new idea from different team of developer . That ’s why these are the games in this roundup that I ’m looking frontwards to the most this year .
Inspired indies
While every 2025 release I ’ve note thus far has been tied to some classic game or serial , we ca n’t forget about the brand - new game that take old - school aesthetics and make something original with them . Some are instantly made for older console table , like the upcoming Game Boy andChromatic gameChantey , but most take their intake at the visual and gameplay design level . Some experience like spiritual successors , like howDemonschoolis a tactical RPG that look like the earliest Persona biz , andAgent 64 : Spies Never Dieis trying to replicate the look and flavour of Rare’sGoldeneye 007.The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Questis also care that ; it ’s a tribute to Castlevania with a ridiculous rubric .
Warsidefollows in the step ofWargrooveto offer up an indie alternative toAdvance Wars . sphere of Mistirais expected to croak former entree sometime this year , too , and could potentially become the most darling Harvest Moon spiritual replacement sinceStardew Valley . Known entities in the video game industry are also making new retro - inspired titles . Yacht Club Games is working onShovel Knight : Shovel of Hope DXandMina the Hollwerright now , for deterrent example , while Veewo Games just revealedNeon Abyss 2at twenty-four hour period of the Devs : The Game Awards 2024 Edition .
Takaya Imamura is a former Nintendo artist best known for his work on F - Zero and Star Fox and for inventing Tingle . On February 28 , he ’ll make his mark as an indie developer by releasing the 16 - bit ocular novelOMEGA 6 The Triangle Stars . Indie publisher Playism project on launching the pixel graphics action gameBlade Chimeraon January 16 , while Retrovibe is putting out a sport - urge boomer hitman calledSportallater in the year . Keep Driving , a brand new The Oregon Trail - animate plot with beautiful pixel art about labor across the land , shanghai me during thelast Steam Next Fest , as did the GBA - inspired action roguelikeRogue Labyrinth .
eventually , if you ’re a repulsion fan , then upcoming ones with retro aesthetic likeDead of Darkness , Hell Drive , andLabyrinth of the Demon Kingshould all be on your radar . If nothing else , this massive listing of game should show you that there will be no deficit of way to experience retro back good in 2025 if you actively seek it out . Tons of long - dormant franchise are getting resuscitate through remake , remasters , and reimaginings , while indies keep the retro gambling feel alive with original titles . There ’s certainly no famine as to what we can enjoy .
